Yard House with Matt Besser
"Yard House with Matt Besser" is Episode 124 of Doughboys, hosted by Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger, with Matt Besser. "Yard House with Matt Besser" was released on October 5, 2017. Synopsis Jockdoughberfest 2017 kicks off as Matt Besser (Upright Citizens Brigade, improv4humans) returns to review sports bar and restaurant, Yard House. Will this chain get a touchdown, or fumble at the 5 yard line? Plus, stories of childhood sports trauma, and a contentious edition of Snack or Wack. Nick's intro With a name like Steele Platt, you might expect an '80s pro wrestler or a ski movie antagonist, but he's actually the founder of perhaps the chain restaurant industry's biggest 21st century success story. Platt first rose through the ranks of the hospitality business in Denver before moving out west to sunny So. Cal. in the mid-'90s for a fresh start. In 1996, while tending bar in nearby Huntington Beach, Platt spotted a 'For Lease' sign on a property in Long Beach's waterfront Shoreline Village neighborhood. He recruited a trio of investors to begin an upscale sports bar concept that centered on size: large footprint, giant menu, and its pièce de résistance, a staggering 250 beer taps served ice cold in knee-high glassware. Coming on the cusp of the gastropub trend, the restaurant also emphasized quality - its higher-than-average priced menu encompassing both traditional pub fare and more daring items with an Asian fusion influence. The Shoreline Village location was a local sensation, helped along by the gentrification of the LBC's downtown area, as well as the opening of the nearby Long Beach Aquarium. By the year 2000, Platt's eatery boasted the third-highest per capita sales in the entire restaurant industry. The single restaurant was grown into a chain, quickly expanding across California and then throughout the U.S. west of the Mississippi, with expansive real estate secured for every dining space. In a 2011 interview with Palm Springs Life, Platt, a classic rock fanatic, claims to have personally curated the playlist for the restaurant chain's in-house music for fifteen years. That streak would end in 2012 when he sold his chain to goliath restaurant group, Darden, owners of the Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, for $585 million. Now that's large. Also large? The place that he enjoys his retirement: a 98-foot yacht named Your Beer Money. This week on Doughboys: we kick off Jockdoughberfest 2017, a month of sports-themed restaurants with the first player on our roster: Yard House. Gatorade Jug rating For Jockdoughberfest, the ratings are changed from forks to a scale of light blue Glacier Freeze Gatorade Frost jugs. The Doughboys mostly loved the food quite a bit, but felt the Yard House failed on the 'sports bar' yardstick being used for Jockdoughberfest. Snack or Wack In this episode, the Doughboys test the BeanBoozled Jelly Belly jelly beans (4th edition), which are a mix of popular flavors and crazy ones. For example, the blue beans can either be "berry blue" or "toothpaste" and you don't know what you'll get when you grab a blue one. They hated the experience, which seems to be the point of the beans, to be fair. They blame Yusong and put all jelly beans into the #HallofWack. Roast Spoonman Quotes #hashtags #ArmenForAllSeasons vs. #FarMen / #ArmIn vs. #ArmOut #JellyBoo vs. #ImWrong The Feedbag Photos (via @doughboyspod) Category:Regular Episodes